Conventionally, efficient energy use has been promoted in various industrial fields. However, a rate of exhaust heat, which is exhausted and wasted from facilities such as factories and vehicles, for example, still remains high. Thus, a technique of efficiently collecting thermal energy has been desired. In the earnest investigation into this technique, the present inventor has focused his attention on use of a thermoacoustic engine capable of inducing thermoacoustic oscillation of working gas. One example of a system (hereinafter also referred to as a “thermoacoustic electric generator system”) that generates electric energy using this thermoacoustic engine has been disclosed in PCT/JP/2012-081193.
The thermoacoustic engine used in this thermoacoustic electric generator system includes: a stack configured by including plural channels; a hot heat exchanger provided at one end of each of the channels in the stack; and a cold heat exchanger provided at the other end of each of the channels in the stack. This thermoacoustic engine induces thermoacoustic oscillation of working gas, which is enclosed in a tube, through generation of a temperature gradient between both of the ends of the channel in the stack, and thus can generate acoustic energy. Furthermore, this thermoacoustic electric generator system is configured to include a linear generator in a branched tube, which is branched from an annular tube, drive this generator using the acoustic energy generated in the thermoacoustic engine, and thereby generate electric energy.